Thermoresponsive, dually cross-linked elastin-like-polypeptide (ELP) micelle hydrogel with recovery properties

Thermoresponsive protein-based hydrogels have been widely used due to their high potential in biomedical fields. Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) are one of the proteins that show lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior, resulting in self-assembly above critical micellular temperature (CMT). Here, we utilized ABC-type blocky ELPs to form hydrogels by introducing cross-linking sites, resulting in good mechanical properties. The hydrogels showed temperature-dependent viscoelasticity due to their structure change. Also, the recovery process of ELP-based hydrogels after large deformation is significantly dependent on the types of cross-linking (i.e., ionic, covalent, or ionic-covalent hybrid).